A. You are willing to work long hours in the first 5 years. B. You are mentally prepared for the good times and the bad times. It's a real roller coaster ride in the first few years. You need to keep an even mind set through the early years. C. You can handle rejection. From prospects and others. D. You are willing to get out in your community and in front of many people. E. You can get along with your BOA. Some are set in their ways and you need to be able to get along with them and them with you. Most all are great and will do whatever it takes to make you sucessful. Most F. You are willing to work as a business owner. You get little supervision, which is nice if you are the type of person who can motivate yourself. If you are the type that needs constant supervision, don't bother coming to Jones. G. You will seldom hear from your RL or ATL unless you aren't getting the job done:

REALITY is that Jones is no different than any other company. Every company evaluates people on performance standards and your abillity to represent the company's interest as set out in the mission statement. I have seen some people come through Jones and fail miserably because they were overwhelmed by the amount of mental and physical stress. As you can tell I like to make sure that people hear both sides of the Jones story.

There are a lot of very sucessful people at Jones just like any other company in the world. They all got there by hard work and dedication to their beliefs. You can certainly attain this same success, but you also need to make sure you aren't kidding yourself. Go in to it with open eyes and an open mind. Be prepared for anything.

Most of all, be obsessed and you will have a better chance of making it.

I'm sure there will be some people who disagree with my post here, but this is my opinion. If you have something to add, please feel free.

"There are a lot of very sucessful people at Jones just like any other company in the world. They all got there by hard work and dedication to their beliefs. You can certainly attain this same success, but you also need to make sure you aren't kidding yourself. Go in to it with open eyes and an open mind. Be prepared for anything."

Their beliefs? What is EDJ, a cult? Yes you should go into it with open eyes and they hope you have an open mind, how else could they get you to follow their beliefs?

EDJ is not a terrible company, you just need to know what you're getting into and just like some cults, you don't find out what you really need to know until you've been there a while.

Somebody is peeing down your back and telling you that it is raining, but that is OK, because it took me almost 5 years to realize the warm rain was really warm piss... and you really should stop drinking the "rain" oldguy.

One of the positives/negatives of Jones and it's people is that, more like some corporations, they focus a lot on "culture". Most wirehouses (as we discussed in another thread) have more or less abandoned culture and mystique for a "higher purpose" (uhh, whatever the shareholders want). Indy firms don't really have culture, so to speak, because they are just that; independant. Each advisor is an island.

So, Jones is in a unique position in the industry in that a big part of their identity IS their culture. So, it rubs everyone in the industry the wrong way. Personally, I have worked for other companies that had similar cultures (another industry), so it really doesn't bother me, surprise me, shock me, whatever. I know exactly how to handle it in my own little world. As I have said before, I take the good, and leave the rest.

HOWEVER, I think many people in the firm try to push the "culture" as some sort of personal agenda. It's nice to have pride in your firm, but you can't attempt to push it on everyone as the "only" way. IMHO, if the GP's thought it was the only way, they would not be making many of the improvements and changes they have made the past 18 months (and continue making). That is acknowledgement right there that it is NOT the "only" way (of course with their own little twist on it...).

Broker24- Thank you for your reasoned explanation to most issues. I am also with Jones and certainly appreciate your thoughts. I am taking the Series 66 on monday and that is certainly proof that things are changing and if they are changing then they weren’t perfect to begin with…